Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the senior sources of emulation in Qom were exerting pressures on the authorities in Tehran to search for a compromise to the current political crisis shaking Iran. They said a delegation from the Guardian Council’s members visited the religious leaders and ayatollahs in Qom to get their public support for the legitimacy of the election and the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term. But an Iranian source told Asharq Al-Awsat: “But praise be to God, the sources of emulation did not support the demands” of the Guardian Council and added that many of the sources of emulation in Qom formed a “neutral” voice during this crisis and because of their tendency to remain “above politics” can play an important role during the crisis shaking Iran…. The Iranian source pointed out that the senior religious leaders in Qom and its seminary prefer to be “above the political tendencies” and they include those with strong influence in Qom and its seminary who have a voice in the decision-making centers in Tehran due to their religious status such as Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi, Ayatollah Vahidi, and Ayatollah Zanjani. Ayatollahs Amini and Javadi-Amoli took a neutral stand during the present crisis and called for listening to the voice of the Iranian street and reformists and examining the violations and complaints neutrally.
